MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Bianca Hensley already had some great memories of the "Glass House," the nickname given to Middle Tennessee State University's Murphy Center, from her time as a prep basketball standout.
On Wednesday afternoon, she added some as head coach of the Cleveland girls — and Hensley and the Lady Blue Raiders might not be done making memories there this week.
On the same court where she was named MVP of the 2005 TSSAA Class 2A state tournament after leading Chester County to the championship, Hensley showed her ability to guide a program from the sideline.
Hensley, in her first season at Cleveland after spending the past four at Stewarts Creek, has the Lady Blue Raiders in the state semifinals for the first time since 2008, thanks to their 60-44 victory against Lincoln County in a Class 4A quarterfinal.
“I am super proud of my girls,” said Hensley, a two-time Tennessee Miss Basketball winner who went on to star at Ole Miss. “We have grown tremendously. We finished our summer at the Murphy Center (with an offseason camp), so our goal was to come back here in March and compete for a state championship. We are in the Final Four now.
“I told our kids: 'Just soak it all up.' Because when I was a player, I can remember all of this and the great crowds and support from the community. This is something that will sit with you for the rest of your life.”
(READ MORE: Guide to the Class 4A girls’ BlueCross Basketball State Championships)
Cleveland (24-9) will next face Bartlett (29-10) — a 54-42 winner over Sevier County in the opening quarterfinal Wednesday — at 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday at MTSU. The second semifinal has Cleveland rival Bradley Central (32-1) taking on Coffee County (34-3), with that game starting 15 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
(READ MORE: Bradley Central girls rout previously unbeaten Clarksville at state)
The Lady Blue Raiders were propelled past Lincoln County (25-10) by 6-foot-2 junior forward Lauren Hurst, who totaled 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and a block.
Hurst and freshman teammate Emily Patterson controlled the boards from start to finish as they combined for 21 of the Lady Blue Raiders’ 42 rebounds, with the Lady Falcons limited to 24. Patterson contributed 10 rebounds and six points in 19 minutes off the bench.
Hurst’s big showing started early as she scored eight points in the first quarter while helping Cleveland build a 21-12 lead.
“Coach B has really encouraged me to get my shot off,” said Hurst, who is a two-time Gatorade state player of the year in volleyball and a back-to-back state champion in that sport. “Her confidence in me has meant a lot, along with my teammates who helped me get some great looks today.”
Lincoln County fought back from a 31-23 halftime deficit to within 34-32 with three minutes left in the third quarter, and the Lady Falcons’ pressure defense had generated 14 turnovers to that point.
However, Cleveland sophomore point guard Ilianis Rodriguez ended a cold streak when she stepped back and hit a 3-pointer from beyond the top left side of the arc in front of her team bench. She also had a putback basket despite getting fouled to make it 39-32 with 44 seconds left in the quarter.
Hurst followed with an offensive rebound when Rodriguez missed a free throw, then kicked it back to senior Callie Brewer for one of Cleveland's seven 3-point makes in the game, building a double-digit lead. Lincoln County would get within two possessions early in the fourth quarter, but with the period nearly halfway gone, the advantage was back to double digits for Cleveland, which controlled the final four minutes.
“At the beginning of the year, I think we saw how much potential our team had, and we saw Coach B was really going to push us to bring everything out we had,” said Brewer, who finished with 10 points and was 2-of-3 from 3-point range along with junior teammate Tamiah Tanner, who totaled nine points.
“There were times during the season we were doubting where we would be at the end of the season, but we really stepped it up," Brewer added. "Our coach has really pushed us to get to this point and leave it all on the floor. We were ready to play today.”
Hurst had 10 points and two assists in the fourth quarter, when she made six free throws to wrap up a 7-for-7 showing at the foul line.
Cleveland shot 47.7% (21-of-44) from the field while holding Lincoln County to 30.2 % shooting (16-of-53). Hensley’s team turned the ball over just once in the final seven minutes of play.
“Our kids were relentless,” Hensley said. “We had amazing support today from our community, and all of our girls really stepped up. We are going to enjoy this one and then get back at it tomorrow to get ready for a tough Bartlett team.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.